Las autoridades rusas esperan actualizar su programa de visas electrónicas agregando varios países más, extendiendo el período de validez y haciendo que las visas electrónicas sean válidas para más puertos de entrada rusos que en la actualidad.
Según la jefa de la Agencia Federal de Turismo de Rusia, Zarina Doguzova, las visas electrónicas rusas tendrán una validez de 15 días en la primera y única entrada.
“I will lift the veil of secrecy here, it might be even longer is the Russian President supports us. But, generally, we are talking about at least increasing it from eight to fourteen (days) for sure,” Doguzova said.
She also explained that for now, e-visas are valid only for those entering Russia through transport hubs in the Russian Far East and the Zabaykalsky Region. Yet, Doguzova relieved that starting from July 1, they will also be valid for the Kaliningrad Region.
“Until the e-visa travel is available for the whole country, we need to carry out targeted information campaigns for the markets of interest so that as many tourists as possible learn that the E-visa travel is already operational in a number of regions,” she said.
Those who wish to travel to Russia for purposes as business, tourism, sports, cultural, scientific and technological ties are eligible for an e-visa. For now, there is no fee for a Russian electronic visa. However, according to Doguzova, in the future the service cost will be about $50.
Currently, the Russian e-visa is valid only for the nationals of a few selected countries, which are:
- Algeria
- Bahrain
- Brunei
- India
- Iran
- Qatar
- The People’s Republic of China
- The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
- Kuwait
- Morocco
- Mexico
- The United Arab Emirates
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Japan
Según los planes para expandir el programa, países como China, Corea del Sur, Japón, países de la UE y países no pertenecientes a la UE que son miembros de Schengen, como Noruega e Islandia, pueden beneficiarse de él. Por otro lado, los ciudadanos del Reino Unido, Canadá y Estados Unidos no serán incluidos en el nuevo sistema de visa electrónica debido a las tensas relaciones de estos países con Rusia.